1.
Townhouse
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A townhouse, or town house as used in North America, Asia, Australia, South Africa and parts of Europe, is a type of terraced housing. A modern town house is one with a small footprint on multiple floors. The term originally referred in British usage to the city residence of someone whose main or largest residence was a country house. Historically, a house was the city residence of a noble or wealthy family. From the 18th century, landowners and their servants would move to a townhouse during the social season, in the United Kingdom most townhouses were terraced. Only a small minority of them, generally the largest, were detached, for example, the Duke of Norfolk owned Arundel Castle in the country, while his London house, Norfolk House, was a terraced house in St Jamess Square over 100 feet wide. In the United States and Canada, a townhouse has two connotations, the older predates the automobile and denotes a house on a small footprint in a city, but because of its multiple floors, it has a large living space, often with servants quarters. The small footprint of the townhouse allows it to be walking or mass-transit distance of business. Townhouses are expensive where detached single-family houses are uncommon, such as in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Washington, DC, and San Francisco. A townhouse is where there is a roof and foundation and a single wall divides adjacent townhouses. A rowhouse will generally be smaller and less luxurious than a called a townhouse. The name townhouse or townhome was later used to describe non-uniform units in areas that are designed to mimic detached or semi-detached homes. Today, the term, townhouse, is used to describe units mimicking a detached home that are attached in a multi-unit complex, such homes have multiple units vertically, normally each with its own private entrance from the street or at least from the outside. They can be side by side in a row of three or more, in case they are sometimes referred to as rowhouses. A townhouse in a group of two could be referred to as a townhouse, but in Canada and the US, it is called a semi-detached home and in some areas of western Canada. Freehold, where one owns exclusively the land and the dwelling without any condominium aspects and these may share the foundation as well but have narrow air spaces between and still referred to as a townhouse. Condominium townhouses, just like condominium apartments, are referred to as condos. All types of dwellings can be condos, and this is true of townhouses
2.
Rococo
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Rococo artists and architects used a more jocular, florid, and graceful approach to the Baroque. Their style was ornate and used light colours, asymmetrical designs, curves, unlike the political Baroque, the Rococo had playful and witty themes. By the end of the 18th century, Rococo was largely replaced by the Neoclassic style. In 1835 the Dictionary of the French Academy stated that the word Rococo usually covers the kind of ornament, style and design associated with Louis XVs reign and it includes therefore, all types of art from around the middle of the 18th century in France. The word is seen as a combination of the French rocaille and coquilles, the term may also be a combination of the Italian word barocco and the French rocaille and may describe the refined and fanciful style that became fashionable in parts of Europe in the 18th century. The Rococo love of shell-like curves and focus on decorative arts led some critics to say that the style was frivolous or merely modish, when the term was first used in English in about 1836, it was a colloquialism meaning old-fashioned. While there is some debate about the historical significance of the style to art in general. Italian architects of the late Baroque/early Rococo were wooed to Catholic Germany, Bohemia and Austria by local princes, an exotic but in some ways more formal type of Rococo appeared in France where Louis XIVs succession brought a change in the court artists and general artistic fashion. By the end of the long reign, rich Baroque designs were giving way to lighter elements with more curves. These elements are obvious in the designs of Nicolas Pineau. During the Régence, court life moved away from Versailles and this change became well established, first in the royal palace. The delicacy and playfulness of Rococo designs is seen as perfectly in tune with the excesses of Louis XVs reign. The 1730s represented the height of Rococo development in France, the style had spread beyond architecture and furniture to painting and sculpture, exemplified by the works of Antoine Watteau and François Boucher. The Rococo style was spread by French artists and engraved publications, william Hogarth helped develop a theoretical foundation for Rococo beauty. Though not intentionally referencing the movement, he argued in his Analysis of Beauty that the lines and S-curves prominent in Rococo were the basis for grace. The development of Rococo in Great Britain is considered to have connected with the revival of interest in Gothic architecture early in the 18th century. The beginning of the end for Rococo came in the early 1760s as figures like Voltaire and Jacques-François Blondel began to voice their criticism of the superficiality, Blondel decried the ridiculous jumble of shells, dragons, reeds, palm-trees and plants in contemporary interiors. By 1785, Rococo had passed out of fashion in France, replaced by the order, in Germany, late 18th century Rococo was ridiculed as Zopf und Perücke, and this phase is sometimes referred to as Zopfstil
3.
Old Town, Bratislava
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The Old Town of Bratislava is the historic center and one of the boroughs of Bratislava, in the Bratislava Region of Slovakia. It is coextensive with the smallest Slovak administrative district by area and it contains the small, but preserved medieval city center, Bratislava Castle and other important landmarks. The Old Town is bordered by the river Danube to the west, Karlova Ves to the north, the New Town to the north and east, the Old Town is divided into several local parts, the historical center, Vydrica, Zukermandel, Blumentál, and others. Some of the parts were demolished by the Communist government after World War II, including Vydrica. As its name suggests, the houses many historic monuments. It also contains many Slovak governmental offices and institutions, such as the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Justice. The western part of the district is an area featuring Bratislava Castle, the Slavín monument, Horský park, many detached houses. The hilly area ends in the south at the Danube with the Chatam Sofer Memorial and the Bratislava Castle hill and this part of Bratislava is more quiet than the other parts of the citys Old Town and, apart from the castle, it is seldom visited by tourists. The eastern section is the historical and administrative center, notable buildings and spaces include the Grassalkovich Palace, Trinity Church, Bratislavas Town Hall, St. There are still remnants of the medieval Bratislava city walls
4.
Bratislava
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Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, and with a population of about 450,000, the countrys largest city. The greater metropolitan area is home to more than 650,000 people, Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia, occupying both banks of the River Danube and the left bank of the River Morava. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the national capital that borders two sovereign states. The history of the city has strongly influenced by people of different nations and religions, namely by Austrians, Croats, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Jews, Serbs. The city served as the site and legislative center of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1536 to 1783. Bratislava is the political, cultural and economic centre of Slovakia and it is the seat of the Slovak president, the parliament and the Slovak Executive. It is home to several universities, museums, theatres, galleries, many of Slovakias large businesses and financial institutions also have headquarters there. The capital of Slovakia is the eighth best city for freelancers to live in, mostly because of fast internet, in 2017, Bratislava was ranked as the third richest region of the European Union by GDP per capita. GDP at purchasing power parity is about three times higher than in other Slovak regions, the city received its contemporary name in 1919. Beforehand it was known in English by its German name, Pressburg, as it was long dominated by Austrians. This is the term which the German, the pre-1919 Slovak, the citys Hungarian name, Pozsony, was given after the castles first castellan, Poson. The origin of the name is unclear, it come from the Czech Pos or the German Poscho. Hungarian speakers still use the Hungarian name, Pozsony, the medieval settlement Brezalauspurc is sometimes attributed to Bratislava, however the actual location of Brezalauspurc is under scholarly debate. The citys modern name is credited to Pavel Jozef Šafáriks misinterpretation of Braslav as Bratislav when analyzing medieval sources, thus coming up with the term Břetislaw, during the revolution of 1918–1919, the name Wilsonov or Wilsonstadt was proposed by American Slovaks, as he supported national self-determination. The name Bratislava, which was used only by some Slovak patriots. The name Pressburg was also used in English-language publications until 1919, in older documents, confusion can be caused by the Latin forms Bratislavia, Wratislavia etc. which refer to Wrocław, Poland – not to Bratislava. The first known permanent settlement of the area began with the Linear Pottery Culture, about 200 BC, the Celtic Boii tribe founded the first significant settlement, a fortified town known as an oppidum. They also established a mint, producing silver coins known as biatecs, the area fell under Roman influence from the 1st to the 4th century AD and was made part of the Danubian Limes, a border defence system
5.
Slovakia
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Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
6.
Bratislava Castle
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Bratislava Castle is the main castle of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The massive rectangular building with four corner towers stands on a rocky hill of the Little Carpathians directly above the Danube river in the middle of Bratislava. Because of its size and location, it has been a dominant feature of the city for centuries, the location provides excellent views of Bratislava, Austria and, in clear weather, parts of Hungary. Many legends are connected with the history of the castle, the castle site includes the following, The castle building includes four towers and a courtyard with a 80 m deep water well. The largest and tallest tower is the Crown Tower on the southwest corner, the 47 m tower dates from the 13th century and for approximately 200 years beginning in the mid-1500s housed the crown jewels of Hungary. The exterior walls and inside corridors contain fragments of old Gothic, the walled-up entrance gate from the 16th century is still visible to the east of the main entrance. Behind the entrance, is a corridor leading to a large Baroque staircase which, in turn. The third floor houses the exhibition on the History of Slovakia, the first floor in the south wing of the building houses the rooms of Slovak parliament — the National Council of the Slovak Republic - including furnishings from the 16th century. The northern wing of the building- the former Baroque chapel, houses the Music Hall in which concerts are held, the courtyard includes the entrance to the Knights Hall. The Yard of Honor is the space directly before the entrance dates from the late 18th century. Inside the Sigismund Gate and below the Court of Honor, is the Leopold Yard with bastions, to the east of the castle building the constellation of the Great Moravian basilica, the Church of St Savior and other Early medieval objects is indicated on the ground. The true archaeological findings are directly below this indicated constellation, adjacent to the Nicholas Gate, a Gothic gateway from the 15th century in the northeast quadrant, is the Lugiland Bastion. This is a long three-floor building from the 17th century which houses the National Council of the Slovak Republic. An English park is located to the south of the stable, the northern border of the site is formed by a long Baroque building from the 18th century, which today houses the Slovak National Museum and the castle administration. The people of the Boleráz culture were the first known culture to have constructed settlements on the castle hill and their castle was a fortified settlement and a kind of acropolis for settlements in todays Old Town of Bratislava. Further major findings from the hill are from the Hallstatt Period. At that time the people of the Kalenderberg Culture constructed a building plunged into the rock of the castle hill, again, the castle served as an acropolis for settlements found in the western part of the Old Town. During the La Tène Period, the hill became a very important center of the Celts
7.
Masonry
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Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar, the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of construction are brick, building stone such as marble, granite, travertine, and limestone, cast stone, concrete block, glass block. Masonry is generally a durable form of construction. However, the used, the quality of the mortar and workmanship. A person who constructs masonry is called a mason or bricklayer, Masonry is commonly used for walls and buildings. Brick and concrete block are the most common types of masonry in use in industrialized nations, Concrete blocks, especially those with hollow cores, offer various possibilities in masonry construction. They generally provide great strength, and are best suited to structures with light transverse loading when the cores remain unfilled. Filling some or all of the cores with concrete or concrete with steel reinforcement offers much greater tensile, the use of material such as bricks and stones can increase the thermal mass of a building and can protect the building from fire. Masonry walls are resistant to projectiles, such as debris from hurricanes or tornadoes. Extreme weather, under circumstances, can cause degradation of masonry due to expansion. Masonry tends to be heavy and must be built upon a foundation, such as reinforced concrete. Other than concrete, masonry construction does not lend well to mechanization. Masonry consists of components and has a low tolerance to oscillation as compared to other materials such as reinforced concrete, plastics, wood. Masonry has high compressive strength under vertical loads but has low tensile strength unless reinforced, the tensile strength of masonry walls can be increased by thickening the wall, or by building masonry piers at intervals. Where practical, steel reinforcements such as windposts can be added, a masonry veneer wall consists of masonry units, usually clay-based bricks, installed on one or both sides of a structurally independent wall usually constructed of wood or masonry. In this context the brick masonry is primarily decorative, not structural, the brick veneer is generally connected to the structural wall by brick ties. There is typically an air gap between the veneer and the structural wall. Concrete blocks, real and cultured stones, and veneer adobe are sometimes used in a very similar veneer fashion
8.
Clocks
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A clock is an instrument to measure, keep, and indicate time. The word clock is derived from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning bell, a silent instrument missing such a striking mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece. In general usage today a clock refers to any device for measuring and displaying the time, Watches and other timepieces that can be carried on ones person are often distinguished from clocks. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units, the day, the lunar month. Devices operating on several physical processes have been used over the millennia, a sundial shows the time by displaying the position of a shadow on a flat surface. There is a range of duration timers, an example being the hourglass. Water clocks, along with the sundials, are possibly the oldest time-measuring instruments, spring-driven clocks appeared during the 15th century. During the 15th and 16th centuries, clockmaking flourished, the next development in accuracy occurred after 1656 with the invention of the pendulum clock. A major stimulus to improving the accuracy and reliability of clocks was the importance of precise time-keeping for navigation, the electric clock was patented in 1840. The development of electronics in the 20th century led to clocks with no clockwork parts at all, the timekeeping element in every modern clock is a harmonic oscillator, a physical object that vibrates or oscillates at a particular frequency. This object can be a pendulum, a fork, a quartz crystal. Analog clocks usually indicate time using angles, Digital clocks display a numeric representation of time. Two numeric display formats are used on digital clocks, 24-hour notation. Most digital clocks use electronic mechanisms and LCD, LED, or VFD displays, for convenience, distance, telephony or blindness, auditory clocks present the time as sounds. There are also clocks for the blind that have displays that can be read by using the sense of touch, some of these are similar to normal analog displays, but are constructed so the hands can be felt without damaging them. The evolution of the technology of clocks continues today, the study of timekeeping is known as horology. The apparent position of the Sun in the sky moves over the course of a day, shadows cast by stationary objects move correspondingly, so their positions can be used to indicate the time of day. A sundial shows the time by displaying the position of a shadow on a flat surface, sundials can be horizontal, vertical, or in other orientations
9.
Clockmaker
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A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and/or repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks, modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly to repairing clocks and watches. The trade requires fine motor coordination as clockmakers must frequently work on devices with small gears, originally, clockmakers were master craftsmen who designed and built clocks by hand. A qualified clockmaker can typically design and make a piece for a clock without access to the original component. Clockmakers generally do not work on watches, the skills and tools required are different enough that watchmaking is a field, handled by another specialist. The earliest use of the term clokkemaker is said to date from 1390, from the beginning in the 15th century through the 17th century, clockmaking was considered the leading edge, most technically advanced trade existing. Historically, the best clockmakers often also built instruments, as for a long time they were the only craftsmen around trained in designing precision mechanical apparatus. In one example, the harmonica was invented by a young German clockmaker, prior to 1800 clocks were entirely handmade, including all their parts, in a single shop under a master clockmaker. Examples of these complex movements can be seen in the many longcase clocks constructed in the 16th and 17th centuries. By the 19th century, clock parts were beginning to be made in factories, but the skilled work of designing, assembling. By the 20th century, interchangeable parts and standardized designs allowed the clock to be assembled in factories. As the art of making clocks became widespread and distinguished. There are many guilds where clockmakers meet to buy, sell and get clocks to repair from customers, early clockmakers fashioned all the intricate parts and wheelwork of clocks by hand, using hand tools. They developed specialized tools to help them, balance Truing Caliper, This device was used in fashioning the wheels and gearwork of the clock, to make sure the wheel, particularly the balance wheel was balanced and circular. The pivots of the wheel were mounted in the caliper, an index arm was moved next to the edge and the wheel was spun to see if the edge was true. Die/Screw Plate, The die plate was used to cut threads on small screws and it had a number of threaded die holes of different sizes for making different threads. A piece of wire was inserted in a hole and turned to cut a thread on the end, then a head would be formed on the other end of the wire to make a screw. File, Hardened steel files were used to shape the metal before it was used to make, there were many variations of files
10.
Central Europe
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Central Europe lies between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. The concept of Central Europe is based on a historical, social and cultural identity. Central Europe is going through a phase of strategic awakening, with such as the CEI, Centrope. While the regions economy shows high disparities with regard to income, elements of unity for Western and Central Europe were Roman Catholicism and Latin. According to Hungarian historian Jenő Szűcs, foundations of Central European history at the first millennium were in connection with Western European development. The keyword of Western social development after millennium was the spread of liberties and autonomies in Western Europe and these phenomena appeared in the middle of the 13th century in Central European countries. There were self-governments of towns, counties and parliaments, in 1335 under the rule of the King Charles I of Hungary, the castle of Visegrád, the seat of the Hungarian monarchs was the scene of the royal summit of the Kings of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. They agreed to cooperate closely in the field of politics and commerce, in the Middle Ages, countries in Central Europe adopted Magdeburg rights. Before 1870, the industrialization that had developed in Western and Central Europe, even in Eastern Europe, industrialization lagged far behind. Russia, for example, remained rural and agricultural. The concept of Central Europe was already known at the beginning of the 19th century, an example of that-time vision of Central Europe may be seen in J. Partsch’s book of 1903. On 21 January 1904, Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftsverein was established in Berlin with economic integration of Germany, another time, the term Central Europe became connected to the German plans of political, economic and cultural domination. The bible of the concept was Friedrich Naumann’s book Mitteleuropa in which he called for a federation to be established after the war. The concept failed after the German defeat in World War I, the revival of the idea may be observed during the Hitler era. According to Emmanuel de Martonne, in 1927 the Central European countries included, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, italy and Yugoslavia are not considered by the author to be Central European because they are located mostly outside Central Europe. The author use both Human and Physical Geographical features to define Central Europe, the interwar period brought new geopolitical system and economic and political problems, and the concept of Central Europe took a different character. The centre of interest was moved to its eastern part – the countries that have appeared on the map of Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, however, the conflict of interests was too big and neither Little Entente nor Intermarium ideas succeeded. The interwar period brought new elements to the concept of Central Europe, after the war, the Eastern part of Central Europe was placed at the centre of the concept
11.
History of Bratislava
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This page gives an overview of the history of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia and the countrys largest city. In the area where present-day Bratislava lies, three skeletons of the Pliopithecus vindobonensis were found in the borough Devínska Nová Ves in 1957, teeth of the Griphopithecus suessi, dating 14–10 million years ago, were also found in Devínska Nová Ves, this time in 1902. From the Paleolithic period, hand-axes and other tools of Homo heidelbergensis. The first known permanent settlements on the territory was in Neolithic. The first known fortified settlement on the area of medieval castle of Bratislava appeared in Eneolithic. In the Bronze Age there were settlements from both older and younger part of the period. On the area of later Devín caste one finds important clues to final period of Bronze Age, early Iron Age brought a shift of the settlement centre again to the area of todays historical centre and castle of Bratislava. La Tène period is defined as from 450 BC to 50 BC, Celts formed between 125–50 BC an important Celtic oppidum with a mint on area of castle hill and historical centre. There is an acropolis on the hill and some settlements below. Bratislava is a town for the first time in history. Most famous finds are represented by coins, bearing inscriptions. Biatec could be name of the prince who organized the minting or the name of the place itself. The arrival or Germans from the west forced the rest of the Celts to seek protection under the Romans on the side of Danube. From the 1st to 4th centuries the border of the Roman Empire ran along the Danube, the northern side belonged to the Free Barbaricum and southern side belonged to Rome. Under the suburb of Rusovce, the remains of the Roman border town Gerulata have been excavated, as well as cemeteries, the Slavs arrived in the area between the 5th and 6th centuries during the Migration Period. In 568 the Eurasian Avars arrived in the area, from the 8th century until 907 the Bratislava Castle as well as the Devín Castle are important centres of the Principality of Nitra. In 864 the first written reference to the Devín Castle appears in the Fuldish Annals and it is known that the name came from one of King Saint Stephens great commander Poson, Pressburg was its German name and Presporok its Slovak. The modern Slovak name Bratislava, however, is assumed to be derived from the name of the Czech ruler Bretislav I, the first written reference to Bratislava appears in 1837 by J. Safarik Slovak historian
12.
Bratislava City Museum
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The Bratislava City Museum is a museum in Bratislava, Slovakia, established in 1868. Its headquarters are located in the Old Town, near the Main Square at the Old Town Hall, the museum is owned by one of the 11 allowance organizations of the City of Bratislava. The museum documents the history of Bratislava from the earliest periods until the 20th century, the Bratislava City Museum is the oldest museum in continuous operation in Slovakia, a country first established in 1993. Museums and galleries of Bratislava Bratislava City Museum official website Bratislava City Museum official website
13.
Tourism in Slovakia
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Tourism in Slovakia offers natural landscapes, mountains, caves, medieval castles and towns, folk architecture, spas and ski resorts. More than 4.6 million people visited Slovakia in 2016, and the most attractive destinations are the capital of Bratislava, most visitors come from the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. Most visitors to Slovakia in 2015 came from, Some 40% of Slovakia is covered with forests, slovakia’s forests contain a wide biodiversity and animals include brown bears, wolves, foxes, wild boars, muskrats, chamois and lynxes. Slovakia features a high percentage of wildlife included in protected areas, there are hardly any mountain ranges and areas not under some form of protection. One of Slovakias main tourist attractions are the Tatra Mountains, the highest part of the Carpathians and they feature many rare plant and animal species and offer numerous skiing, hiking and mountaineering opportunities. Rivers and streams in the mountains of Slovakia are often used for rafting and other white-water based activities, the use of rafts has a very long tradition and especially rafts on the spectacular Dunajec river are very popular among tourists. Slovakia contains numerous springs and spas. There were 94 destination spas in 2007, which contained more than 11,900 beds, in 2007, there were 276,200 visitors in Slovak spas, which is a 9% increase from 2006. 35. 2% of the visitors were foreign, recently built parks include Tatralandia in Liptovský Mikuláš, Aquacity in Poprad and Aquathermal in Senec. Slovakias karst areas offer a high number of caves and their list is being expanded every year owing to new discoveries. The number of caves per capita may be the highest in Europe, thirteen caves are open to the public, the longest of which is 9 km long. Some of them have been proclaimed as UNESCOs World Heritage Sites, among them, Ochtinská Aragonite Cave is one of three aragonite caves in the world. Slovakia contains many castles, most of which are in ruins, the best known castles include Bojnice Castle, Spiš Castle, Orava Castle, Bratislava Castle, and the ruins of Devín Castle. Čachtice Castle was once the home of the worlds most prolific serial killer. Slovakias position in Europe and the countrys past made many cities and towns similar to the cities in the Czech Republic, a historical center with at least one square has been preserved in many towns. Large historical centers can be found in Bratislava, Košice, Banská Štiavnica, Levoča, historical centers have been going through restoration in recent years. Historical churches can be found in every village and town in Slovakia. Most of them are built in the Baroque style, but there are many examples of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, for example Banská Bystrica, Bardejov
14.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
